Top 5 Technology Trends for 2016

Think of your last 24 hours. Chances are you’ve had several moments of continuous connection with information, apps, services, devices and other people. This “digital mesh” surrounds the individual and new, continuous and ambient experiences will emerge to exploit it.

Our lives are becoming increasingly connected to our devices, other people and a variety of things. Smart machines get smarter, and a new IT reality must evolve with technology architectures and platforms to support the advancement of a digitally connected world.

This year’s top 10 strategic technology trends are grouped into these three complementary trends that are mutually reinforcing with amplified disruptive characteristics.

The Digital Mesh

Trend No. 1: The Device Mesh

The device mesh moves beyond the traditional desktop computer and mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) to encompass the full range of endpoints with which humans might interact. As the device mesh evolves, Gartner expects connection models to expand and greater cooperative interaction between devices to emerge. We will see significant development in wearables and augmented reality, especially in virtual reality.

Trend No. 2: Ambient User Experience

All of our digital interactions can become synchronized into a continuous and ambient digital experience that preserves our experience across traditional boundaries of devices, time and space. The experience blends physical, virtual and electronic environments, and uses real-time contextual information as the ambient environment changes or as the user moves from one place to another.

We’ll see continued advances in 3D printing with a wide range of materials, including advanced nickel alloys, carbon fiber, glass, conductive ink, electronics, pharmaceuticals and biological materials for practical applications expanding into aerospace, medical, automotive, energy and the military.

Recent advances make it possible to mix multiple materials together with traditional 3D printing in one build. This could be useful for field operations or repairs when a specific tool is required and printed on demand. Biological 3D printing — such as the printing of skin and organs — is progressing from theory to reality; however, politicians and the public don’t have a full understanding of the implications.

Smart Machines

Trend No. 4: Information of Everything

Everything surrounding us in the digital mesh is producing, using and communicating with virtually unmeasurable amounts of information. Organizations must learn how to identify what information provides strategic value, how to access data from different sources, and explore how algorithms leverage Information of Everything to fuel new business designs.

Trend No. 5: Advanced Machine Learning

Advanced machine learning is what makes smart machines appear “intelligent” by enabling them to both understand concepts in the environment, and also to learn. Through machine learning a smart machine can change its future behavior. This area is evolving quickly, and organizations must assess how they can apply these technologies to gain competitive advantage.